Final Test Flashcards
1
Q
What is human development shaped by?
A
- Nurture: multiple contexts of home, family, child care, community, society
- Nature: is affected by these contexts and also shapes how children respond to them
- Children affect their environments at the same time that their environments are affecting them. This is a transactional-ecological model (more on this later in the course)
- Some children are high strung, some relaxed… some agile, some clumsy; children are raised in a variety of social circumstances and cultures; some conditions are secure, some are unstable; some behaviours are valued in one culture (competition in U.S.) and not in another (shyness in Japan)
- Genetics and environment operate in both directions
2
Q
How does culture influence human development?
A
- Culture encompasses values, aspirations, expectations and practices
- Affects: how and when babies are fed, where and with whom they sleep, the response to their crying, sets the rules for discipline and expectations for attainment, it affects what parents worry about, it influences how illness is treated and disability is perceived, it affects childcare arrangements
- There was a relative disregard for culture in traditional research
3
Q
What are some risk factors of vulnerability?
A
• Vulnerability presents risk factors: temperamental difficulties, chromosomal abnormality, poverty, family violence
4
Q
What are some protective factors of resilience?
A
• Resilience factors are protective: good health, physical attractiveness, loving parents, strong social network
5
Q
What is stronger…nature or nurture?
A
- We have come to re-conceptualize this age-old debate
- It is now impossible to think of heredity independent of environmental influences
- Nature and nurture are inseparable more and more with each year of research
6
Q
How are behavioral genetics related to heritability?
A
- This field seeks to separate behavioral variability into its genetic and environmental components
- Heritability is expressed as a percentage e.g. a heritability of .45 indicates that genetics are responsible for 45% of the trait
- Two primary research strategies for understanding genetic contributions of particular traits: adoption studies, twin studies
7
Q
What are some aspects of a shared and non-shared environment?
A
- Parental practices and family events are not likely to have uniform effects on offspring because children experience, understand and respond in individualized way (the nonshared environment)
- Recent thinking suggests that it is the “unshared” environment that is having the greatest impact on development
8
Q
What are some parental implications of raising young children?
A
- Parents should modify child rearing to the inherited tendencies of the child so as to moderate and “buffer” negative predispositions and amplify positive ones
- Children should be treated differently
9
Q
What are some general points about brain development?
A
- Early childhood is a sensitive period in brain plasticity (even though we know the brain has a lifelong capacity for growth and change)
- Early brain development is enduring – it sets the foundation for future networking
10
Q
What are synapses?
A
• Synapses, the connections between neurons, connect to form millions of neural pathways in our brain
11
Q
What are the five processes of prenatal brain development?
A
- Making the brain cells
- Getting the cells where they need to be
- Growing axons and dendrites
- Developing synapses
- Forming the Myelin
12
Q
What does the brain look like at birth?
A
- At birth, a full term baby’s organs and brain structure are fully developed but the brain’s circuitry continues to develop long after birth
- The brain triples in size from birth – 3 years
- It never does this much growing again
13
Q
What are some ways to study the brain?
A
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Electroencephalogram, event related potentials and magnetic encephalographry allows us to see brains working
- We can watch as a child is presented with different stimuli (e.g. speech sounds) and see the parts of the brain that are activated
14
Q
What is synaptic overproduction?
A
- There are potentially millions more synapses in an infants brain than will ever be needed
- Those that are used and strengthened stay – those that are not strengthened are “pruned”
15
Q
What are sensitive periods?
A
- We now know, that there are “sensitive periods” in synapse production in infants and children, - times when our brains are more “prepared” for certain learning to occur
- For example , the sensitive period in visual development is 6 months. If a child’s vision were impaired from birth – 6 mos. They would be forever blind (many studies with kittens L)
- Sensitive period, for cognitive development is around 1 year of age and continues until middle adolescence
- Pruning the unused synapses leaves the brain more efficient and precisely organized
16
Q
What are neurotransmitters?
A
• Chemical messengers that “instruct” brain cells at the synapse
17
Q
How does the environment change neurochemistry?
A
- Increasing evidence that elements of early caregiving can alter the brain’s neurochemistry
- Good caregiving appears to release neurochemicals that reduce pain and distress
- This is a chemical explanation of why mother’s caregiving can be soothing (it is literally changing chemical production in the brain)
18
Q
How does stress impact the brain?
A
- Stress has a significant impact on neurochemistry of the brain
- Neglect, stress and trauma within the caregiving environment compromise positive brain development
- Research shows that the brain wiring changes as it tends to release stress hormones and becomes ill-equipped to regulate the stress system (we will revisit this idea when we discuss attachment)
- Traumatic early environment overactivates neural pathways that regulate fear-stress responses – sort of like placing them on a constant “high alert” setting
